Revisionist historians have been picking at the pristine Puritan
image of colonial New England, finding definite discrepancies
between practice and preaching, but (University of New Hampshire)
Professor Clark's complaint is that even a revised picture of
Puritanism is still a very incomplete picture of colonial New
England. Settlers of the region north of the Merrimack River, that
corner of America which became New Hampshire and Maine, "differed
from southern New Englanders in place of origin, motives for
settlement, religion, politics, temperament, and way of life."
Clark aims to describe the origins and development of this
"different" society to the end of the colonial period, stressing
social history though including a skeleton of economic, political,
and institutional developments. Two major themes emerge to give
shape to an otherwise straightforward narrative. The first is the
well-worn concept of the "frontier" - the social and cultural
effects of wilderness living. Early settlements in northern New
England were often brawling and lawless, peopled by sturdy,
independent types; the social organization of their communities was
dangerously loose considering the constant threat of French or
Indian attack. The second, more potent formative influence was the
"imperialism" of Massachusetts Bay colony, the "Puritan conquest"
(in social, economic, political, and military forms) of Maine and
New Hampshire. Though by no means completely successful, the
Puritan ministers and magistrates were largely able to export their
moral and social system to the northeastern region. Even within
northern New England, there was a wide range of people and places,
and it's sometimes difficult to absorb and assimilate the diverse
details of Clark's quite thorough investigation. But, impressive in
its scholarship and original in its motifs, this is a significant
contribution to colonial history. (Kirkus Reviews)
This extremely readable account of early New England settlements
emphasizes the development of a distinctive culture derived from
the varied groups that settled there.
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